Washburn pitching, so no trade immediately at hand

Well, Jarrod Washburn’s finished doing his warmups and the game is underway in Toronto.

So at least for the moment, talk about a trade to New York can be put on hold.

Not that talks aren’t ongoing, but consider the logistics.

Washburn is on the mound in Toronto.

His agent, Scott Boras, who is looking for ways to sweeten any deal for his client, is in Southern California.

Mariner general manager Lee Pelekoudas is in the air, flying from Seattle to Texas, where he will meet up with the club. The Mariners start a four-game series in Arlington on Monday.

And Yankee general manager Brian Cashman is standing about 30 yards from me, here in Cooperstown, N.Y. where a crowd of about 17,000 is hand for the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

What this means is that the two sides aren’t talking right now, and won’t until later this evening.

It also means that if the Mariners are willing to pitch Washburn, no deal can be that close. They wouldn’t want to risk an injury to a player they thought they were close to trading. And the Yankees would have every desire to not have Washburn pitch if they thought they would be able to insert him into their rotation in the next day or two.

It seems by all odds the Mariners want to get fair value in exchange for Washburn. And it seems the Yankees are treating the Mariners as if they were a cash-strapped team like the Royals, which Seattle is not.

Seattle doesn’t crushing financial reasons to make a deal, and Pelekoudas is being judge for a possible full-time job. He is going to be judged both on what he does and what he doesn’t do. If he doesn’t make a deal because he doesn’t want to get fair market value would be a plus mark for him down the road.

Will Washburn wind up with the Yankees? It’s up in the air enough that the Yankees have opened talked with Kansas City about possibly acquiring Brian Bannister if the talks with the Mariners sour.